Pre-K Lesson Plans for Sight Words (Fun & Simple)

Use this lesson plan when you are looking for information on how to teach sight words to Pre-kindergarten children.

As a result of this lesson, students will be able to recognize words that are on the list of 40 Pre-K Dolch sight words.

Materials needed for this lesson and activities include:

• cover stock paper to make your flashcards and for students to create their own
• markers and/or crayons to create and decorate flashcards
• play dough (for a DIY version, use this play dough recipe)
• licorice strings

Prepare flashcards featuring the 40 Pre-K Dolch sight words when working with prekindergarten children. These are the words that children need to learn by sight, both through the letters and the shape of the word, in order to become fluent readers. There are Dolch sight word lists for every grade level, so students will build on what they learn for the next few years. The words for this age group are listed below, in alphabetical order.

When preparing Pre-kindergarten lesson plans sight words, it's important to remember that small children learn best through play and a variety of activities. Since their attention span is so short, activities need to be short and varied. Rote memorization is fine as long as the session is short and repeated daily.

1. Let children know that some class time will be spent each day focused on learning new sight words and that you'll also work with sight words in other lessons and activities.
2. Break up the sight word list into manageable chunks to focus on so that students are learning a few new words at a time. Consider focusing on sight words one or two letters at a time. For example, week one could be "a" (a, and, away), week two could be words that start with "b" (big, blue), and so on through the alphabet.
3. Use your flashcards to introduce the words to students on the first day of a new group of words. Show the card, see if anyone knows the word, then reinforce correct answers given or state what the word is if needed.
4. Provide students with enough cover stock to create their own flashcards featuring each word, copying the word from your flashcard.
5. The next day, have students use the flashcards they made to review and say the words aloud. Pair with an activity (ideas below).
6. Repeat daily for a few months, varying the activities until students have a complete deck of flashcards featuring all 40 of the Pre-K sight words.

Incorporate some or all of these activities into your lesson plan. Be sure to vary the activities rather than doing the same one every day.

• decorate flashcards - When students create their own flashcards, let them personalize the finished project. Allow class time for them to color and decorate their flashcards.
• bean bag toss - Have the flashcards strewn around the floor and let each child toss the bean bag onto a word. The student reads the word, with help from the class if needed, and makes a sentence with the word. The students will need a lot of help at first, but will soon get the hang of it.
• play dough spelling - Have the students sit at desks or tables and write a few sight words on the board using big letters. Have them use play dough to make a long snake, then use the dough to form the letters to spell the words.
• licorice spelling - Rather than play dough, vary the activity above by providing students with licorice strings they can use to form the letters of select words. What a tasty lesson!

Once students are familiar with their sight words, you can move onto a more complex lesson plan using those sight words.

This lesson should be used after you have worked through the first lesson plan with all 40 of the sight words. For this lesson, you and the students will need your full sets of flashcards from the previous lesson. You'll also need some regular paper and age-appropriate storybooks.

Now that students have learned the Pre-K sight words and can recognize them when they see the words, the next step will be for them to be able to recognize the words when they hear them and, of course, be able to correctly read the words aloud.

1. Start with a quick run-through of the full deck of flashcards featuring the 40 pre-primer Dolch sight words. Show one flashcard at a time, asking students to say the word aloud. After students have spoken up, state the word yourself before going on to the next term (to reinforce the correct answer).
2. Read a story aloud while also pointing out the sight words. This would work especially well if the story is in big book format, or you have written it on a chart with the sight words highlighted.
3. Write a few sentences on the board. Read the sentences aloud. Ask students to raise their hand any time you speak one of the sight words while reading the sentences.
   
4. Transition to activities that require students to identify sight words.

Use the following activities to encourage students to practice what they have learned and to reinforce their new vocabulary words.

• read aloud - Read a story and ask students to raise their hands when you say a sight word. Pause when hands go up, ask students what the sight word was, then have them pull that word out of their deck to set aside.
• sight word callout - Follow the above activity with an exercise that involves you calling out the sight words identified from the story. As you call out a word, students should pull out the corresponding flashcard.
• sight word snowball fight - Write the words that have been taught so far on a piece of paper and crumple them into a snowball. Let the children play by tossing the "snowballs" around, then ring a bell or blow a whistle for them to stop. Everyone has to pick up the snowball nearest to them and read the word.
  

The work you do teaching Pre-K students to learn, recognize and read sight words will provide them with a head start for success in kindergarten and beyond as they move forward in school. For more ideas to enhance your lessons and teaching skills with regards to sight words, review how to teach sight words. For additional words appropriate for your students, discover some simple action words for Pre-K. Once students have mastered the basic sight words, work other age-appropriate words into your lessons using the same strategies and activities in the lesson plans described above.